The new Instagram-ready space is a celebration of defecation, wrapped up in the Japanese kawaii aesthetic. Toby Fehily visited, and found much to ponder

As a mildly lactose-intolerant heavy lactose consumer with an anxiety disorder and an affinity for coffee, I am very familiar with the idea of poop being urgent.

But I’m struck by a different sense of urgency at Melbourne’s new Unko Museum, an immersive exhibit that opened this month to celebrate “adorable poop”. As I sit down for a poop tea party, browse the shelves of a poop supermarket and pat a furry poop creature named Jenny, I find myself considering the importance of excrement – and our relationship with it.